Kent Kapplinger

A Regenerative Process

Places Woodcut, 9x7

Statement

Throughout my adult life I have been searching for a sense of balance and order. When I was a farmer, that search manifested itself through my attempt at regenerative farming. Now as an artist, I have examined both the success and failure of that period of my life and realize the direction it has given me. I have since discovered my place in a continuing regenerative process, one that gives credence to my past experiences through their assimilation into my artistic expressions. Interaction of past and present personal experiences serve as source material for my visual vocabulary and continually informs the structure of my image.

I present isolated aspects of life in the form of texture, shape and color. By observing a place, I begin to feel each surface with my visual hand. The texture of a rope, the richness of soil, the ruggedness of concrete, the brittleness of a bale spark an emotional response to my bonding of place. Each work becomes a comparison of visual metaphors that describe the differences and similarities between specific time periods in my life.

My work is a synthesis of my personal time and place. It is a new and vital creation where the natural cycle of life continues through an awareness of my past and my future balanced with the reality of today.